President Donald Trump made a shocking accusation earlier in the year when he tweeted that former President Barack Obama "had my wires tapped in Trump Tower" before the 2016 election. But in an under-the-radar court filing Friday night, the Department of Justice said it has no evidence of the claim.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from a transparency group, the DOJ said neither its National Security Division or FBI have any records of the alleged wiretapping described by the president.

On the morning of March 4, still early in his presidency, Trump sent a tweet saying "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" He kept up the accusations in a series of follow-up tweets and said Obama went to "a new low," comparing the allegations to the Watergate scandal.

Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!

"Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen," he said.

The White House said the tweets were referring to other intelligence investigations at the time that picked up communications from Trump campaign aides.

In the filing, the DOJ says it cannot "confirm or deny" the existence of records that could pertain to the FOIA request but are withheld because of "national security."

Austin Evers -- the executive director of American Oversight, the plaintiff in the FOIA lawsuit -- said the DOJ filing "confirmed in writing that President Trump lied," suggesting the president did it to cast doubt on the investigations into Russian election meddling and possible collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign.

"As the president and his legal team continue their smear campaign against (fired FBI Director James Comey), Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller and others investigating him, this filing confirms that even Trump's own Department of Justice does not believe he has credibility on a key element of the Russia investigation," Evers said in a statement.